March 17, 2008

I watched the first two parts of HBO’s “John Adams” serial tonight and enjoyed it very much. The costumes, props, etc. were apparently well researched and reproduced faithfully (according to a “Making of John Adams” preview). Paul Giamatti and Laura Linney generally projected the type of characters I imagined while reading David McCullough’s John Adams , though perhaps I see John Adams as being a little more feisty.

I am glad to have read the book before watching the show since there is background in the book that explains and expands on what is happening on the screen.

I love studying American history at the time of the Revolution. The more I learn about the gathering of those extraordinary leaders in such a relative backwater and the improbable natural occurances that helped the Continental Army again and again, the more I see the hand of our God in helping to establish this free country.

March 10, 2008

Our Branch conference was held yesterday and we got a new branch president. Pres. Brown was released and Pres. Brown was called. They are brothers. Our Stake Relief Society president is a native Hawaiian and a very sweet lady. I was pleased to be given a visiting teaching companion and a list of sisters to visit.

Church ends at noon and as I walked to my car I passed two flowering crab trees at the peak of their glory. The blossoms were very white against that blue, blue sky. The temperature was around seventy degrees and really quite perfect. March is a good time to be here.